Price of a Life
by L.T.TaraMay
Summary: One girl from Odale Town in Hoenn has only one goal: escape her past. But what happens when that turns out to be harder than she could've imagined? Rated R for beyond mature themes and circumstances.
1. Prologue

Hello all! This is Leigh, and this isn't a co-write. My object with this was to go into the Pokémon world (of the games, sorry, I don't watch the TV show I only play the games) with a more realistic approach. Well, a more realistic-for-Americans approach. I've enlarged the cities and towns, created suburbs for the cities and farmland, and greatly added to the distance between towns. It suits my American mind; when I think of regions I think "Northeast! Southeast! Midwest!" which are US regions and they are much larger than Japanese regions, to which the Pokémon regions directly correlate. I also made more scumbags, because I'm a cynic. Also, there's more diversity in the people and cultures (for instance there is a boisterous Italian family involved) and I know people are like "silly American! Diversity is just for the melting pot areas!" well that's where I live. Brace yourself for the Americanization of your favorite setting. One thing I didn't totally change is the currency, which is . It is the yen in the Japanese games, so I'm using a US dollar to yen converter to keep that correct to some extent.

Okay enough of my blabbering. Let me just give you a couple DISCLAIMERS: First, I, of course, being a silly American, do NOT own Pokémon or the Pokémon universe by any stretch of the imagination, no matter how much I wish I did. Second, I am a junior in high school, which is a big deal to me, because I have more work than I've had in the past. I'm also trying to get a job, and since I'm not a professional I plan on having my personal life mess up my writing "schedule". So take into account that this story will be updated once or twice a month and maybe more if we all are lucky. This will likely not change in the summer.

Also! WARNING: this has very mature themes, which will become obvious in the first paragraph. And seeing as so far I have a clean slate, it can only get worse from here! So brace yourself for some fluff in the not-so-near future, and some not-in-detail rape/incest in the immediate.

Go forth! Read! Comment! Hate/Love! I await your responses with much anticipation. Even if you hate it, I would love to know why, but please no flares. I wanna know the gritty details of your scorn.

**Years 1-15: Odale Town**

I got my first Pokémon quite by accident, and most definitely without permission. I didn't steal him, though. It was completely legal. It's just that Father would've shot him had he'd known, or any other Pokémon that came near me. Or human being, for that matter. One might find it sweet that he's protective, if a bit excessively, but it's not because he loves me. I doubt he loves any living being. Even my illiterate mother, even himself. He's never shown any care to anything but his crops. Unless you count sex as love, but I don't. I think it's just another way for him to express his anger at life, or another way to control us. Or maybe both, two birds with one stone. But it works.

The first time I realized he was more controlling than other fathers was when he pulled me out of school. I was eight at the time, and he decided that all this talk of "devil creatures" as he calls Pokémon, was intolerable. Poisoning my mind. So I didn't get to see my friends much for the next two years as they studied, and then caught their first Pokémon themselves and set off on their journeys to make something of themselves. Something, I was told from very early on, I was "no way in Hell" going to be allowed to do. I don't know what made Father so bitter towards Pokémon, perhaps some childhood trauma, but I've not spent much thought on it. I worry more about the present and future than what caused them. I spent my days daydreaming in the fields as I work and dreading the time that evening when the very real monster climbs into my bed. I don't have the time or resources for much else.

Excepting, of course, when I couldn't sleep. Sometimes, late into the night, after Father has gone back to his own room, I couldn't keep my eyes closed long enough to fall asleep, and so I went on walkabout. I was never caught, that's how I found my love of Pokémon, and eventually a Pokémon of my own, and how I kept him quiet.

For years I would go out, in the wee hours of the morning, to the forest. For a while I stayed to the paths, never coming across any other souls, but for the sounds of the nighttime Pokémon in the distance. Eventually, though, I began to wander. And that's how I started to find them. First was a starly, I remember I found the young bird Pokémon, his wing broken, on the ground and set it for him. I kept him hidden in the barn until he had learned to fly. After that it became almost a game, to find hurt Pokémon and heal them without anyone finding out. Heal something else when I couldn't heal myself. I would find mostly small Pokémon, who had fallen or trapped themselves in low branches or bushes. But then I found bigger ones, wounded poocheyenas, and a drowning zigzagoon. In the month before I found my Pokémon, my secret patients would show up with bite wounds and scratches.

Then one night, after I had dressed myself and walked sorely out to one of my favorite clearings, I heard a mournful howling, or it might've been a loud whimper. I followed the sound, though my heart was pounding. It sounded larger than anything I had ever seen in these woods. I finally stopped short, stunned when I had found the source of the noise. A wounded growlithe lay crying in a pile of matted leaves, covered on one side in blood that sparkled in the moonlight. He obviously saw me, because he met my eye but looked away, flinching. After a moment I decided he wasn't going to hurt me; he seemed too weak, so I dropped to my knees beside him, searching for the source of the blood. It ended up being a series of slashes on his flank, probably from a wire fence. He also had a collection of swollen stings which I assumed were from beedrills, and scratches on his short snout. Overall, he was in bad shape.

I spent over two hours next to him, after fetching a pail of water from the well and some cloths. I cleaned his wounds, including the stings, and pet his wide head until he purred. He seemed much more comfortable once his bleeding had stopped, though a little weak still. I worried momentarily if he would be safe during the day if I left him before I realized he must've been the creature inflicting the bites and scratches I had been treating for weeks now. He was probably the most dangerous creature in the woods. So I left him, but came back every night to nurse him back to health. He became something of a companion to me.

After a week, he had regained enough strength to hunt again, though he sometimes reopened his wounds. I stopped bringing him food after ten days because my father had become suspicious. But he was fine after a while, and accompanied me on my walks many a night. It was a problem, at first, finding Pokémon and healing them when he was around, but he learned quickly that an animal wasn't to be touched if I saw it first. He learned to hunt during the daytime, and if I found something beyond help, I would give it to him. Two months passed like this, and we were a month into fall when it all fell apart.

By then I'd taken to calling him Rup. It was what I had begun to say to warn him off my patients, and it evolved into his name. By then, he also knew where I lived, though he had (thankfully) never tried to come near or inside the house. He often times waited just inside the trees by the back door for me if he knew I was coming. But again, he never came in. until one night, when I screamed.

See my father had had a bad day. The crop count was devastatingly low, and a Pokémon trainer had messed with his stand at the market and the cops hadn't caught him. I knew when he got home that it was going to be a tough night. And it was; he stayed longer than usual that night, and I hurt more than I had in years. I suppose I must've screamed, perhaps a few times, because Rup heard something. He had been waiting by the back door, I knew, but suddenly he was in my room, the roaring emanating from him shaking the flimsy walls. I saw him jump onto my father's back and bring his head down, and it was over in an instant. I watched in disbelief as Father's body rolled off of me and onto the floor, his neck bent at an unnatural angle.

"Rup!" I yelped as he lunged for his throat, waving him off. I heard a gasp and my head snapped up in time to see my mother, looking especially frail in the dim light. Rup's hackles rose and I grabbed the scruff of his neck in panic. "Mom, I-I" she covered her face and ran down the hall before I could finish any sort of explanation. Then Rup turned to me, his eyes wide and confused. I patted his head, panic making tears blur my vision as I scrambled out of bed. I had to leave, and never come back. I would be blamed, and even worse, Rup would have to be put down.

I hurriedly and shakily pulled on a pair of jeans and my favorite jacket; pale corduroy with big brass snaps up the front. I snatched my knapsack from the hook on the door and looted my dresser, stuffing all I could think of into it. I didn't have many clothes, but I still left a lot in the drawers. Then I stepped around my father's still body to my night stand and grabbed a brush, journal, a pen and all the money I had hidden in the slats underneath the single drawer. I would count it later. Then I turned to Rup, who had been standing on my bed, watching me with his dark eyes.

"C'mon Rup," I said shakily. "We're leaving now." He seemed to understand because he got down from on top of my sheets and followed me out of the room, down the hallway and to the front door, where I paused. My mother was nowhere to be seen, and I figured she had run to the neighbors' who lived half a mile down the road. No goodbyes tonight.

I beckoned to Rup and we left through the front door. I even closed it behind us. Then we ran.


	2. Someplace New

So. I am sorry that I haven't posted lately…. Haha, what an understatement. Good news is soon I should have more time. I feel like I've barely had time to sleep these past months. In November I finished the NanoWrimo challenge, and successfully wrote 50,000 words of my first novel, but I'm still only like a third of the way through my outline. I plan on finishing the first draft over the summer, because I kind of had to set it aside just recently. Then there's these art projects that I've been doing, I've entered a few contests on top of trying to build my portfolio, and then visiting colleges…. So yeah. I've had a very full junior year so far.

Here's the second chapter of the pokemon story, I'm going to keep all of the chapters around this same length. Is it a good length? I have more of the story written than I thought, so I should have the next two chapters up in a reasonable time. (I've been writing it in a notebook, nothing beats the feel of pen on paper)

Please comment! I don't care if it's a bad comment, I love criticism….. that sounds masochistic… but I do!

**AD 1: Eterna Forest**

We ran for two days. We scrounged the bushes for food, both meat and berries. The berries were just for me. Rup shared his kills, giving me some small birds, though I refused some of the zigzagoon he offered. I had success in starting a fire and roasted the birds when I was hungry.

Sometimes I felt bad, that Rup was working so hard and I only had a vague idea of which direction the next town was. I told myself that was all I felt bad about. I decided from then on, I wasn't going to think about my past. The first night we spent in the woods we slept in a clearing padded with dead leaves, side by side. I was glad he was here because he was both warm and incredibly good protection, so I wasn't scared. At least of Pokémon. I didn't know what awaited me once I found other humans, but I did know I would have to go to them. I couldn't live without real food for very long, because while I did find things and Rup tried hard to get more for me, it was never enough for my fifteen-year old body, and eventually I would need a tent or something to shelter me from rain and the growing cold.

At one point, when I could tell we weren't far from Rustboro City, (good time, considering Odale was over sixty miles away, and the farm was about a mile outside of that) I counted my money. I had P43173, which wasn't bad, considering, but it definitely would not go far, so I'd have to be careful. I also had no way of getting more, because I was pretty sure no one would hire a murdering farm girl with a deadly Pokémon. The fact that Growlithes are rare, even in the Joto region to which they are native, was bound to raise suspicion.

**AD 3: Rustoboro City**

Eventually we reached the developed area; the suburbs of Rustboro weren't that extravagant, but were filled still with more people than I had ever seen; even at the farmer's market in Odale. I stopped at a stream behind some of the houses and washed by face and changed into fresh clothes behind a bush. If people were on the lookout for me, they would be expecting me to look as if I had slept alone in the woods for the past two days. At least now, even if I looked a bit more travel-weary, I blended in with the stream of trainers constantly moving towards the main city. I walked loosely with a handful of them arriving, many whom, by the look and sound of them, were arriving for the first time. Some looked older (that was another thing- I was one of the oldest in the group) and carried heavier bags. They also had a full set of six poke balls one their belts, while the newer set had two or three. I was the only one without any poke balls, though I don't think anyone noticed. A couple others had a Pokémon walking alongside them, also.

I was fascinated in particular by a young man, maybe two years older than I, who had a pachirisu on top of his backpack. The squirrel Pokémon would hop from his shoulder to his head to inside one of his bag pockets and to his belt in a random order as the trainer talked to a younger trainer. I watched him out of the corner of my eye as we all walked. Many of the trainers around me had also started up their own conversations, but I didn't want any trouble so I just walked silently, Rup keeping close by my side. He had probably never been around so many people.

Suddenly I felt a tap on my shoulder and both Rup and I immediately tensed. I turned my head and saw it was a younger trainer who was smiling at me. He had six poke balls at his belt, but he was too young to have been very far, or so I thought. His smooth brow and bright green eyes seemed too innocent for him to have seen much of the world. I faked a welcoming smile.

"Hello, is this your first time to Rustboro?" he smiled back at me. I almost wanted to shield my eyes from the sunniness of his expression.

"Yeah," I smiled, kind of relieved I didn't have to lie or hide from him. He obviously didn't know anything about me, so how could he report me for murder? "I guess you caught me. You look at home here thought."

"Yes, actually my uncle owns a restaurant in the city proper, and my house was a few blocks from the park a while ago." He walked very confidently and I decided I liked him.

"So you're not trying to get as far away as possible? Or did you just come back for a visit?" I asked with a wry smile.

"Oh, well, I was just training my Pokémon. See, I have to be ready to beat Roxanne. That, and I was visiting a cousin in Petalburg. I'm Italian; I have family all over the place." He laughed.

"Who's Roxanne?" I asked, grinning. He had a contagious mood.

"The gym leader here in Rustboro. Oh, and I'm Toni. Sorry, I forgot to introduce myself! Where are you from?" He held out his hand, and I panicked for a moment realizing I shouldn't use my real name.

"Alexa," I blurted, taking his hand and he shook it, beaming. "I'm from Odale."

"That's a lovely town. Very green, and friendly," he commented. "I see you're just starting out on your journey. Have you been given a pokedéx?"

I was shocked for a minute, realizing he thought I was a trainer. He looked at me and his smile faltered for a moment before I recovered. "Oh, uh, I just… No. I don't have a pokedex." He nodded.

"Then we should fix that once we get into the city! The gates are right around that corner. Of course, they're not really gates; it's just a huge dramatic wrought iron archway. Just to mark that you've officially gotten there, mostly for all the new trainers. Do you mind if we stop at my uncle's restaurant first? I've got to check in, and you'll like him. Sometimes I'll do deliveries for him if it's on the way. You'll like the city, too. There's always so much to do…" I just nodded and grinned and let him ramble on as we reached the gates and went in.

I was struck, first, by how big all the buildings were. They were really tall and I had to crane my neck to see the tops of some. Next was the noise. There were a lot of people all talking at once, at the store fronts, all over the wide sidewalks, and bicycles and carts whizzing and rattling past, sometimes making honking noises.

"It seems big, doesn't it? Well it won't once you get to Lilycove or Slateport. They're loads bigger. Especially Lilycove! That's the shopping center of the region right there! Here, my uncle's place is a few blocks down this way. What kind of Pokémon is that anyway? I've never seen one around here…" He turned a corner with me, looking at Rup curiously.

"He's uh… a growlithe. They're not native to Hoenn."

"Then how'd you catch him? Or did someone give him to you?" I looked into his face and decided it would be too suspicious if I told him the truth. I didn't know how Rup had gotten to Odale in the first place, how did I know he wasn't stolen?

"Uh, my dad gave him to me," I answered, deciding the lie would be easy to remember. I smiled slightly at the irony.

"Oh! That's cool! Your dad really wanted you to be a trainer, huh? He seems cool."

"He's dead." Toni looked stunned by my bluntness.

"Oh, I'm sorry," he said, frowning genuinely.

"…And I should tell you something else," I continued. "I'm not a Pokémon trainer. I don't really want to be, either. I never really even considered it… thought of it."

"-Then what are you doing here?" Toni asked, not being unfriendly.

"The truth is that I ran away from home. When my dad died." I decided he wouldn't assume how literally I meant that.

"Oh, uhh… I'm sorry. Why? Can I help?"

I shook my head. "I don't want to talk about it. But… I do need money. Could you help me with a job or something?" I felt bad asking favors already, but before I could tell him to forget it, he was talking animatedly.

"Of course! My uncle will hire you! He's always in need of a little help around the restaurant, and he'll always help a fellow Pokémon lover in need! I can't guarantee it'll be the best pay, it _is_ a restaurant, but that's up to you. People are scared to apply to a family-run place over others because they think it's gonna come down to them versus a cousin for the job and family first or hurt feelings and such… but yeah! Of course I'll help! I'll hook you up! And you look hungry so I'll get them to feed you too. Here, turn left now…"

I felt Toni grab my arm and steer me into an alley and away from the sidewalk. He made a 'shh' gesture at me by putting his finger to his lips.

"We're not allowed to battle in the city unless you're in a Gym, but in alleys no one cares about that." We walked in complete silence for a few minutes, me half a step behind Toni in the narrow alley. Then someone in a red and black striped vest stepped out in front of us. Toni's hand shot automatically to his belt.

"Ah shoot," Toni breathed, putting an arm out to stop me. I halted, my eyes going wide.

"What's up?" I asked, scared by how this woman was eyeing me.

"May I help you?" Toni asked cautiously.

"Yeah, squirts. You can give me your money," the woman growled, sweeping stringy dark hair out of her big glazed eyes. Her mouth twitched as we stared at her.

"Mighteyena, come out now," Toni mumbled, unlatching a poke ball from his belt. It began to glow red as the woman sneered.

"Ickle trainers, eh?" she snarled, and her thin arm shot for her pocket and quickly reemerged, tendons white through her sallow loose skin. It clicked open, glowing red also, and suddenly there were two Pokémon squished in between us in the narrow alleyway. Toni's was a large mighteyena, like I'd seen only occasionally in the Odale forest, his back coming as high as my waist. The other, the woman's was a one and a half foot tall cacnea. It seemed an odd choice of creature for a city-goer, but then, here I was, a farm girl with a growlithe. Besides, I realized, people come to cities from all over, there's probably more diversity here than towns like Odale.

"Mighteyena, bite!" Toni commanded, and he seemed like a totally different person than the happy child I'd met moments ago. His eyes looked flinty and sharp and his stance was tense and stable and he looked focused and… deadly? The woman smirked as the dark wolf-like Pokémon lunged in her direction.

"Pound," she hissed and the cacnea swung one of its arms and hit Mighteyena in the face, which veered it off course. Rup flinched at my feet.

"Mighteyena, tackle!" and the Pokémon lunged once again at the cactus. He hit it this time, and the cacnea staggered backward a few steps. Rup shuddered next to me and his hackles rose, but I was too scared to move.

Suddenly my eardrums were assaulted by Rup's roaring. He hopped briefly up on his hind legs as he roared. The woman's cacnea froze and then scrambled away towards his trainer, who had fled back into the shadowy doorway from whence she came, a stricken look on her face. The cacnea barely made it in the door before it slammed closed.

Toni looked at me, surprised, then Rup, and then blinked as Rup shut his mouth and the alley fell silent. "Well, that takes care of that," he smiled after a second. I looked at him, still shaking slightly. "C'mon, no one'll be messing with us now." He then grabbed my arm and pulled me into a jog with him.

We ran down the alley, and after a minute it opened into a wider path, with instead of just grimy brick walls as before, a fence here and there marking courtyards and small gardens. After another minute Toni stopped in front of one of these. Rup skidded to a stop to avoid barreling into us as Toni fished into his pocket and brought out a keychain. He selected a bronze key, tarnished in spots, and stuck it in the lock on the gate. I noticed he had a pewter poke ball locket and a painted wooden poocheyenas attached to the keychain as he twisted the lock open. He smiled as the gate swung inward and he beckoned me forward. "Ladies first," he said. I ducked my head in thanks and walked into the garden.


	3. Another Family

**So here's another chapter. I'm just writing this because… I know it sucks. SO…**

The garden was, despite the small space allotted it, huge. All the plants were spilling over with bounty; there was even a patch of tomato plants, still weighted down by their fruit although their season was long past. There were also many plants I didn't recognize with strangely shaped and colored berries.

"Brellee!" squealed a Breloom hopping out from behind an oversized watering pot. Rup and I took a step back, almost running into Toni as he rushed forward to greet the mushroom-capped Pokémon.

"Brella! How have you been?" he asked, crouching to look the Breloom in the eye and beaming at it.

"Tee?" squeaked a cat-like Pokémon, appearing from a cat flap in the door of the brick building. The Pokémon's face brightened when it saw Toni and it bounded up to him before rubbing its face against the trainer's leg.

"Foxy," Toni smiled, bending to scratch the Pokémon's head behind the ears. Then he turned to me. "I thought I'd take you in the back way. This is Bella and Fox; they belong to my aunt and uncle. They take care of the garden."

I was still looking at Fox, who was eying Rup cautiously. "What kind of Pokémon is Fox?" I asked. It looked like a Skitty, but its fur was a brownish-orange.

"Oh, she's kind of a mutt. Her dad was a Vulpix, but she's a Skitty. We get asked that a lot. C'mon, let's go inside! There's food!"

I smiled, bracing myself for meeting new people, and followed him in the screen door. Fox and Rup sniffed at each other as they passed, but Rup bounded up the steps to follow me inside.

Inside was almost louder than the street, and it was now that I realized how quiet the alley had been. There was a second where nobody noticed us, and Toni made the way from the back of the kitchen almost to the dining area before the hustle-bustle of the kitchen became an explosion of voices.

"Toni, my boy!" bellowed a large dark-haired man in a well-splattered apron. "Everyone! Toni's back!" he yelled. Then almost everyone in the kitchen seemed to drop what they were doing and come to greet us. For a few minutes Toni was inundated with boisterous greetings, back-thumping, hugs and kisses before he even had time to call attention to me.

"Now Toni, who's your friend here? Another trainer? She looks starved! Have a seat you two!" and the large man ushered us to a corner of the kitchen where there was a large metal table surrounded by chairs.

We sat, and the man beamed down at me in a strikingly Toni-like matter. In fact, many of the people in the kitchen had the same dark hair and big smiles as Toni. "Hello, miss, I'm Uncle Antonio! Welcome to my restaurant!"

"Hi," I responded, sounding weak in comparison to his broadcast. "I'm A-Alexa," I stuttered, suddenly remembering I should use a fake name.

"Why, you're weak with hunger! You must have travelled far! Good think Toni brought you to the right place! Do you like pasta?" and he had already rushed away and reappeared with a pot of steaming pasta and a plate before I could open my mouth to respond. He quickly pushed the plate in from of me and dumped a mound of pasta in the center of it. "Lucia! Get this girl some sauce!" he bellowed over his shoulder, and a thin girl who was unmistakably a relative of Toni's scurried forth with a pot and ladle. Uncle Antonio disappeared once again as she got to the table.

"Hello," the girl smiled tentatively. "Tell me when," she instructed as she began to generously ladle rich red sauce onto my plate of penne.

"Uh, that's good, thanks," I smiled politely back. She flashed me a quick but earnest beaming smile before flitting away.

"That's one of my cousins. She lives upstairs," Toni explained. "She's going to inherit the family business."

I looked for the girl. Her? Head of the whole restaurant? She was young, though, so confidence might come in time.

"Yeah, I know. But she's just a late bloomer, like her mother. She's probably the best person to leave it to," he said. "Don't tell anyone, but she's one of my favorite cousins," he whispered, his hand to his mouth. Then he beamed.

"Here you go," Lucia said, appearing at my elbow and placing a slice of garlic bread and a meatball on my plate. She then took a rolled up cloth napkin and dropped it next to my plate from where she'd held it in the crook of her arm.

I nearly jumped out of my skin. She didn't seem to notice but for a flick of her large eyes in my direction.

"And welcome back, Toni, we missed you," she smiled sweetly at him. "Are you staying for a while? We should hang out."

"Yeah, actually! I'll come at the end of your shift. I have some errands to run first though."

"Okay!" Lucia smiled again before disappearing again.

I looked at Toni as I unwrapped my silverware from the napkin. "Aren't you gonna eat?" I asked.

"As soon as the ravioli's ready, they'll let me know," Toni replied. "It's what I always have. My brother Gio is making them right now."

I looked around, astounded that he could make sense of the chaos that filled the kitchen. I couldn't even tell where Lucia had gone. He saw my expression and smiled like a little kid with a trick up their sleeve.

"You get used to it after a while. I practically grew up in this kitchen. Once we're done eating I'll ask Uncle Antonio about getting you a job. You could be a maitre'd or a server; it's not as chaotic as a kitchen job. Or even a busboy. Or a busgirl," Toni chuckled, focusing now on someone halfway across the kitchen. I looked and noticed someone, presumably Gio, pulling ravioli off of a pan. "Here we go!" he beamed.

"Hey Toni, I burnt some for you," Gio smirked as he placed one of the five plates he was carrying in front of his brother.

"Thank, Gio. I'm going to see Mom later, when are you off?"

"Yeah, I'll be around, little bro. I'm getting off early today, after the lunch shift." Toni smiled up at his brother, who was, I noticed, very tattooed and a few years older than me. "Hey I'm Gio," he nodded to me. "I'd shake your hand but I've got to go serve these before I drop 'em."

"Alexa," I smiled meekly. He smiled back at me and hurried to the swinging doors that led to the dining area.

Then I turned to my food, which was still steaming. Toni had grabbed the spoon from my napkin, and had already started devouring his ravioli. I plunged my fork into my penne and mirrored his sentiment. I felt bad that Rup, who was sitting under the table and away from trampling feet, didn't have his own food. Just as I had thought this, a girl around the age of seven with long shiny hair hurried over and put a bowl of scraps on the floor at my feet. Then she slid into a seat across from me.

"What kind of Pokémon is he?" she asked, her eyes wide and bright with curiosity. "What kind of places have you been? How'd you get him?" then she turned to Toni and rattle off: "How's Wally? What's Petalburg like? Can I come with you next time?"

"Rosie, this is Alexa," Toni introduced us. "She's Lucia's little sister," he explained to me. "That's a Growlithe, and Wally's fine. They're sending him to Verdanturf, or they're thinking about it, anyway. And maybe you can come when you're older and have your own Pokémon."

"But I wanna go with you _now_!" she whined. "And I do have a Pokémon! Fox is mine!"

"When you're older, Rosie, and Fox belongs to the family."

"Aren't I big enough? I can go on adventures, can't I? Tell Toni, Alexa! If he can do it, I can too!" She turned to me and I froze, unable to say anything due to a mouthful of pasta. I swallowed quickly.

"Uhm… I think that's for your parents to decide…" Her lower lip pouted and she got out of her seat.

"Fine," she snapped, then patted Rup on the head and stalked back the way she had come.

"She's hotheaded," smile Toni, amused. "She's going to be a great Pokémon trainer someday, if she doesn't kill someone trying to get a Pokémon first!" he joked.

My smile didn't quite reach my eyes. "Yeah," I said.

We finished eating, and I could tell Toni was thinking seriously about something because he was really quiet. It let me savor the delicious food, so I didn't mind. I hadn't had something this good in- ever.

After I was done Toni took our plates and went to drop them somewhere in a sink. When he came back he had Uncle Antonio with him.

"So you need a job, miss?" the man asked seriously. I nodded. "Great! We've been short on servers since Toni and his friend went off on their adventures! I'll pay you ¥400 an hour, I know it's not much, but it's money, eh? And you can eat her for free! Staff is family, whether they really are or not," he smiled warmly.

"I-I would really appreciate that, thank you!" I responded, astounded at his generosity. He grabbed my right hand in both of his and pumped it up and down, beaming.

"It's settled then! You can start after the lunch rush. Start you easy. You met Linda right? No? Well c'mere! She'll be training you."

"Uh, Uncle, I've got to get going," Toni broke in before I had been swept away. "You'll be alright, won't you?" he asked me kindly.

"She'll be fine, Toni! Have I ever lost one of your friends? And come back now, don't be a stranger, we haven't seen enough of you lately!" Toni had started towards the door as Antonio spoke. "Tell your mother hello for me! Promise you'll come back!" Uncle Antonio bellowed after him. Then he turned to me, chuckling. "I always give him a hard time for leaving us. Now come! To our senior waitress!" He then led me to the restaurant front, the doors to the kitchen almost clipping my elbow as we passed through them. Rup followed us silently, his bushy tail held low to the ground. It was a bit quieter in this part of the building, though still filled with the chatter of the diners and the clink of silverware and glass. The noise from the street was muffled, but still audible through the large windows bordering it. "Linda! Here is a new waitress for you to train up! Work your magic, m'love!" He led me to stand right in front of a brunette woman with hair almost the same color as mine. She was incredibly lanky with blue-green eyes, and was the first staff member I'd seen who obviously wasn't related to Toni.

"Hello, I'm Linda," the woman said, her voice incredibly smooth and calm, a characteristic thrown into contrast by her boss' loud disposition. Uncle Antonio patted my shoulder and then was gone back to his chaotic kitchen, stopping only to greet an older patron.

"I'm Alexa," I smiled back; I was getting used to my name now and didn't have to scramble to remember it.

"Wait here," Linda said suddenly and glided over to a table in the middle of the large room. Rup moved to sit behind my legs, looking around with wide open eyes. I took in our surroundings. The walls were mostly covered in wood panels or large frames containing random things such as pictures of famous people or cloth flags. There was handwriting inside most of the frames, though I couldn't tell what it said. The floor as a dark hardwood, cluttered with tables and wooded chairs. The lighting wasn't the brightest, but it wasn't dingy and served its purpose while creating a relaxing atmosphere for eating. The whole place smelled of good food and coffee. Just then a couple walked in, and a busty relative of Toni's dressed in black rushed over to seat them. One of them had just said something funny, because their companion was laughing.

"Okay," Linda said, having made her way back to me. She placed a small flip notebook and pen back into her black apron as she spoke. "The lunch rush isn't quiet over yet, so why don't you go and hang in the garden until I come get you, okay? It won't be long, but you should acquaint your Pokémon with Fox and Bella, because that's where it's going to have to stay while you're working." She looked at Rup pointedly, though not unkindly, then back at me. "I know it might be annoying but we can't have it underfoot, and diners might be allergic." I nodded, accepting what she said. She smiled in a motherly way before going to another table to check on the diners and offer them more water.

"C'mon Rup," I said, and we went back into the kitchen. I dodged someone carrying a tray, then opened the back door and followed Rup back into the garden.

Bella the Breloom looked up briefly as Rup and I came outside. Fox didn't. They were crouched on either side of the tomato patch I had noticed earlier, only this time I saw there was a cloudy group of bright orbs over it. Then I realized why the tomatoes were still giving fruit so late in September. I figured the Pokémon had been using moves like Sunny Day to give the tomatoes the necessary climate. They ran what was effectively an open-air green house. I turned over an empty bucket and sat on it, letting the two garden Pokémon do their work. Rup sat next to me and I patted his head.

I sat, my elbows on my knees, once Fox had finished with the tomatoes, and watched her and Rup play a game of keep-away with a twig. Bella ignored them, looking peeved, as she began carting around a watering pail and making rounds. I supposed being basically a plant herself helped her with her job. I watched, slightly fascinated.

After a while I heard the screen door open behind me and I turned. It was Lucia.

"Linda says you should get cleaned up," she said softly. I flushed slightly, because that meant that I must smell worse than I'd thought. "I'll show you to a bathroom," Lucia offered, and I stood to follow her inside. Rup stopped his game, but I waved him off, telling him to stay.

I was led across the kitchen and up a flight of stairs, which is, I gathered, where quite a few of the younger staff slept. There was a futon in the living room, even, so five or more probably lived on this floor. Lucia led me to a bathroom and waited outside after handing me a washcloth.

"I don't think you have enough time for a shower," she said, "So just use the washcloth." I wondered if she was embarrassed, telling someone she'd just met how to clean themselves. I wet the washcloth and stripped, trying to get clean as fast as possible. I realized all my clothes were in my knapsack, which was still sitting in the garden.

"Uhm, Lucia? I left my stuff in the garden, could you-"

"Get it? Sure. Be right back." I heard her footsteps rush away and fly down the stairs. I returned to scrubbing my arms with the washcloth.

I was wringing out the washcloth for the last time by the time she was back. "Hold on, let me open the door." I pulled it open, making sure I was invisible behind it, and Lucia quickly handed me my bag. It was now that I realized how filthy it was after just a couple days in the forest.

"I remembered I had some dry shampoo in my room, so I put it in your bag, in case you want to use it. You just flip your hair over and spray it into your roots, then brush it out. You have a brush, right?"

"Yes, thank you," I replied through the door, taking the aerosol can out of my bag and looking to see if I had to shake it.


End file.
